Some of the players in my LARP have busy schedules, and are unable to make it to my game, so I send them little stories and snapshots of what their characters were upto during the game instead.

Better than Life 1

The unyielding rain beats down around you at an odd pace like a slow Danse Macabre. With the thin canopy overhead providing little shelter you’re a sitting duck, and you know it. Every step forward your feet sink a little farther into the mud, squelching loudly and ungracefully up the sides of your boots.

“He has to know I’m here.” The thought flies through your mind as you scan the trees looking for signs of movement; tracking, scanning and turning.

You give the signal by raising your left hand firmly into the air.

“Now we wait. I can survive this; just pay attention.”

Preparing for his strike you raise your shield. Custom forged steel, suitably weighted to give you balance; not that it will help you on such abysmal ground.

Suddenly the Coward makes his move. You feel it before you see it, a burning, searing sensation at the back of your neck.

From the corner of you eye you see a light as bright as the sun heading straight for you. Your body reacts faster than your mind can process what’s happening as you dive out of the way, arms first into the mud. Time seems to slow down and a roaring ball of fire sprints past your body as you collapse to the ground.

The ungraceful landing sprays mud into the air as a nearby tree explodes, deafening you momentarily.

“Get up, Get up!”

From the ground you see lightning arcing from your opponent’s fingertips towards the canopy as a volley of arrows evaporate inside the energy blast. Hidden partially behind that tree, you think you can surprise him before he can react. Pushing hard against the ground you bolt towards him, moving with power and determination, creating a tidal wave of mud at your bow. The Anger rising inside of you as you close the distance.

His eyes glance towards you, as he bites his finger and draws a circle in the air.

“Not this time.”

His escape portal opens: A shimmering blue disk of light, casts its eerie glow across the battlefield.

The Anger inside of you flows from your body into your sword, from your mud soaked boots to your bloodthirsty heart; you strike at his cover.

The Sword halts as it strikes the tree, a tree that was standing before the cities were built and the world was tamed by man. It cracks under the blow.

Dryads would weep tears for a thousand years as the trunk shatters into large chucks at the impact before being blown to pieces, scattering debris in all directions.

The next thing you recall, aside from a raging headache from being pounded in the head by the weight of a tree, is having a handful of small red berries being crushed into your mouth.

“Did we get him?” you ask, dazed, as the healing herbs begin to take effect.

“Yes,” comes the reply “But he didn’t drop the amulet.”

“We’ll have to do the instance again.”

Somehow you don’t feel to disheartened, at least you have an awesome story to tell.